One of the best ways to secure your future financially is through making 401(k) contributions. If you manage and optimize your 401k) contributions, you can become a millionaire. You will need to make contributions aggressively and consistently over a long period and also make use of the various wealth management resources to achieve that target. Let’s walkthrough my Blooom review.
Blooom Review: Analyze and Optimize Your 401(k)
If you want to grow and optimize your funds correctly, then you’ll need to ensure that your funds are invested in low-fee investments. To accomplish that, you need a resource or a website that can show you how to optimally invest your money.
Blooom does that for you. The robo-advisor world has been growing like crazy and Blooom offers an interesting approach that limits the complexities from competitors.
Maintaining low fees is at the core of my retirement planning strategies. I monitor my fees with the free Personal Capital retirement planner, but that really isn’t enough.
So, what is Blooom?
Blooom is a top-notch site that offers exceptional online investment management and advisory services. There are several retirement plans and 401(k) alternatives available today.
Blooom robo-advisor focuses on workplace retirement plans and helps you manage and fully optimize your 401(k), 403(b), 457s, 401(a) s and thrift savings plan. It offers you an automated robo-adviser to assist you with difficult investments decisions.
Blooom lets you find out the money that you are losing to hidden management fees.
Blooom has three “o” s, is a registered investment advisory firm that was founded in 2013 to help manage 401(k) plans and has its headquarters in Leawood, Kan.
You can find several Blooom reviews if you search the internet today. In this Blooom review, I will explore the various Blooom features, how it works, and the pros and cons of using Blooom Inc 401(k). In addition, I’d love to cover off on how you can use Blooom to achieve that financially free lifestyle.
Blooom Basic Features
Blooom website is easy to navigate and has a very friendly user interface. The site allows you to access a 401(k) free analysis in the first month.
In addition, you can sign up for the trial and then cancel at anytime.
Blooom offers you a professional way to manage your 401(k) by picking the right investments for you as well as the right percentages of the stock and bond mix. It also helps you find out if your investments are too conservative or aggressive. Blooom also allows you to find out how much you could be missing out on by enabling you to easily manage your 401(k).
There are many retirement fees that you can incur with different plans. Blooom cost is very low and affordable which is just a flat $10 fee per month and no other hidden costs regardless of account size.
Blooom offers an excellent platform for beginning investors, hands-off investors, desktop users, 401(k) users and investors with higher than average risk tolerance.
Retirement strategies to consider
There are several retirement millennial strategies that can help you secure your retirement. Blooom manages 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), 457 and TSP plans only which aren’t taxable investment accounts or IRAs and are employer-sponsored plans. Finding a financial planner for millennials is not always easy. They are mainly robo-advisors, now.
Blooom has the ability to manage your plans regardless of where the plan is held or who the employer is. You don’t have to get your employer to join any partnership program with the service. Blooom is a fiduciary firm that is required by law to act within the clients best interests.
The Blooom platform invests in ETFs and mutual funds based on various investment selections existing in your 401(k) plan. Blooom has assets worth $2 billion under their management. I love how Bloooms’ monthly fees and payments are made via debit and credit card and it doesn’t touch your retirement account balance.
Start the signup process.
How Blooom works
The first step is to sign up. With our link you can obtain a free analysis of your 401(k) to ensure that you are balanced correctly. Here is the sign-up process:
- When you click start now, you need to answer only a few questions which include your names, date of birth and when you expect to retire.
- The next step involves securing your account with a password. In this step, you’ll need to provide your email address and a private password.
After you create a password, the next step is to create an account and link with your 401(k) account.
- The other step is to link or to log in to your existing 401(k) account. In this step, you’ll need to confirm that you own a retirement account that is offered through your employer often called employer-sponsored accounts which include 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), 457 and TSP. These types of accounts let you put a portion of your paycheck away on a tax-advantaged basis. The next step is to find your retirement account whereby you search for the institution, employer, or URL of where your account is held. The institutions include Fidelity, Vanguard, Wells Fargo, Prudential, Empower retirement among others. Then you need to enter the information for your account at the institution that your account is held.
- Finally, you need to analyze and see how you stack up.
After the signup process
Once the signup process is complete, Blooom adjusts your 401(k) within 30 days. Blooom manages your account based on your age and when you expect to retire. They make an asset allocation of the stock/bond portfolio according to your age where for the younger, a higher percentage is allocated to stocks than bonds and the older are allocated a higher percentage of bonds than stocks.
You will get a full break down of your investments and a detailed list of the adjustments and advice that can help you make the most out of your retirement account and what you can potentially save in hidden fees.
In the first month, you get access to free analysis. At the end of the free analysis, you will get the opportunity to sign up and have Blooom manage your account. Blooom also gives you an option to full control your account at any time.
Blooom employs a 4-step method to analyze your 401(k):
- They check your 401(k) options and remove the funds that are not worth owning.
- They prioritize index funds and occasionally use just actively managed funds to gain investment exposure.
- Blooom sends you an email every time they make any changes and advise you of the changes.
- They double check your results and cross-reference with your suggested 401(k) allocation.
How asset allocation is done by Blooom
Blooom works with the available investment options in your 401(k). Blooom uses index funds but can also utilize actively managed funds to achieve investment exposure. They target the best funds available in your plan to create an optimum investment.
Blooom works within the available investments in your account classifies them in the 14 assets classes and then uses Blooom algorithm to pick the fund in each bucket with the lowest internal expense ratio.
Blooom uses a symbol of a flower to show the client how their investments are faring and gives recommendations on how to improve it.
Blooom allows you to edit and adjust your investment mix. It also gives you an option to change your retirement date. Also, Blooom acts only as an advisory service but you have the full control over your plan and can make any changes you deem necessary.
Blooom checks out for rebalancing opportunities and performs a portfolio review after every 3 months or 90 days to ensure that your account is in line with the allocation recommendations. If there is a need for any adjustments, they are done automatically.
If you want to accumulate wealth, you will need to save and minimize fees over the long-term.
Pros and Cons of Blooom
Every platform has a pro and con to it. It is hard to find something that offers everything. There are several pros and cons of Blooom to consider.
Pros of Using Blooom
- Professional account management
Blooom offers professional investment management services for your employer-sponsored plans.
- Low cost
Blooom charges a flat fee of $10 only regardless of account size.
- Works with various different plan providers
Blooom can work with any 401(k) plans provided by an employer as long as it has an online access.
- Multiple account support
Blooom supports multiple accounts to offer an integrated portfolio advice and recommendations.
Cons of using Blooom
- Only available for 401(k) and 403(b) plans and does not work with taxable investment accounts or even IRAs. That typically means that it works only with the employer-sponsored plans.
Another consideration is the limitations of the platform. Sometimes, I need to see the bigger picture beyond my 401(k) like managing my personal financial ratios.
Conclusion on our Blooom Review
Blooom is a great resource that offers investment advisory services and helps you manage your employer-sponsored plans like 401(k).
Many Blooom reviews recommend the platform due to outstanding robo-adviser capabilities and affordability. I hope this Blooom review has given you some great information that will enable you to make an informed decision.
Interested in other financial technology reviews? Check out our Swell Investing review.
What do you think of our Blooom review? Will you try the platform? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you.
Related Resources
- Best Investing Apps to Use Today
- How to Invest Your Money Effectively
- M1 Finance vs Robinhood: What Platform Should You Use?
Millionaire Mob is an early retirement blog focused on passive income, personal finance, dividend growth investing and travel hacking. With both a million rewards points and a million dollar net worth you can live a happier lifestyle.
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